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come out of the woodwork

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come/crawl out of the woodwork
to appear after being hidden or not active for a long time, especially in order to do something unpleasant After you've been in a relationship for a long while, all sorts of little secrets start to come out of the woodwork. Racists and extreme nationalists are crawling out of the woodwork to protest at the sudden increase in the number of immigrants.
See also: come, out, woodwork

come out of the woodwork also crawl out of the woodwork
to appear suddenly and unexpectedly If you try to lose weight, people will come out of the woodwork to offer advice.
Usage notes: usually said about someone who was not invited or wanted
Etymology: based on the idea of insects that suddenly come out from under boards in a house where they have been hidden
See also: come, out, woodwork


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But there are others starting to come out of the woodwork.
Tax Code and simplify our archaic and cumbersome tax structure, all the special interests (yes, as a boater, I guess I'm considered one too) come out of the woodwork.
``A lot of people are going to come out of the woodwork and throw their hats in,'' Yousefian said.
 
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